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Forbes|December 26, 2017Capitalism, Built to LastIN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS of humankind, we are blessed to be enjoying the greatest way ever to spawn wealth and happiness: entrepreneurial capitalism. Given our f*ckless government, perhaps it’s the only way right now. But it’s not a constant—to keep this system healthy, we must continually nurture it. At the moment, too many Americans doubt whether capitalism delivers what they need, in part because too many companies have stopped listening to America.That’s where the Just 100 comes in. Last year, we debuted the first-ever ranking of companies based on whether they achieve what Americans expect from them. This year, we’ve taken the next step: a unified ranking of 877 of the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies, the best of which, regardless of industry, earn the Just 100…2 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017CLASSICSAquavitNipponNobu Downtown/Nobu 57One if by Land, Two if by SeaPeter Luger Steak HouseThe River CaféShun Lee Palace‘21’ ClubDaniel is still stunning and hard to beat in a town of exceptional dining. At Majorelle you will be served—impeccably—one of the best meals you’ve had in ages, traditional French fare with Moroccan influences and a contemporary flair, in a classically appointed dining room with magnificent floral arrangements in the Masson family tradition. Forget dieting—desserts here are an absolute must. Another new source of a most memorable meal is The Grill, which occupies part of the space of the old Four Seasons. Walking into this landmark is like seeing an old friend who’s discovered the fountain of youth. It’s dinner as theater: superb food that doubles as outstanding art. Like the musical Hamilton,…3 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017ATTACK OF THE GAMERSDANIEL MIDDLETONSince launching his channel in 2012, the British Minecraft player has amassed over 11 billion views, published a graphic novel and embarked on a tour of 50-plus shows, including 4 sold-out nights at the Sydney Opera House.EVAN FONGFong plays ultrapopular games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, and sponsors shell out up to $450,000 to appear in his videos.DUDE PERFECTFive friends and their group mascot—a guy in a panda costume— perform stunts and stupid tricks, such as wrestling while encased in bubble wrap.MARK FISCHBACHThe gamer’s 19 million subscribers know him as Markiplier, and given his reputation for dramatic play-by-play commentary, it’s no surprise that he recently did a sketch-comedy tour across the U.S. and Europe.FELIX KJELLBERGKjellberg, a.k.a. PewDiePie, once topped our list but had a terrible 2017:…2 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017MOTHER OF THE CLOUDWhat did you have in mind when you wrote your famous “Cloud vs. Strings” paper in 2000?We were advocating for the new converged voice/data infrastructure to look more like the Internet than traditional telephony. Today “cloud” has an expanded definition. It means massive computational power available “in the cloud”—i.e., over the internet.How should CEOs think about cloud technology?CEOs must think about the cloud. The cloud accelerates the adoption of new technology, which means it also accelerates business evolution. Your competitors are thinking about it. You can’t just delegate [it] to your tech people.Yet even today, most corporate boards ghettoize information technology to the audit committee. Is that a mistake?Yes. Boards need to consider how technology drives strategic advantage. That’s how Fred Smith and FedEx saw it when I served on…3 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017CONVERSATIONREADERS OF OUR December 12 issue would’ve been remiss had they swiped past Clare O’Connor’s cover story on Forbes 30 Under 30 newcomer Whitney Wolfe Herd. A cofounder of dating app Tinder, Herd left the company and sued it for sexual harassment in 2014, then started Bumble, a dating app that lets women securely make the first move. O’Connor’s piece gained salience from the recent avalanche of workplace-misconduct claims, noted @SirenofBrixton on Twitter: “May all victims of sexual harassment be able to serve revenge cold in the epic way this woman has.” The rest of this year’s talented tyros provoked reader admiration as well—especially those way under 30. Noted ProPublica politics reporter Jessica Huseman piquantly, “The youngest on the Forbes Media #30Under30 list is 12. Just in case you need…2 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017MARGIN PROPHETRETAIL’S SAVIOR?The apps of Torontobased startup Tulip help physical stores by enabling staff to access product and customer information instantly and close a sale on the spot. Clients include Saks and Toys “R” Us. CEO Ali Asaria thinks Tulip—whose 2017 revenue Forbes estimates at $15 million—might help rescue brick-and-mortar retail.Give us an example of Tulip in action.We saw three main pain points with moms shopping for strollers at Toys “R” Us. One: “Is this the right model for me?” Two: “What if you don’t have the right model instore— can I get it shipped home?” Three: “Is it cheaper at a competitor?” Sales associates can now pull up prices from Amazon and a bunch of others.Do stores really want to tell customers they can get a product cheaper elsewhere?Toys “R”…1 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017FOLLOW-THROUGHWHITMAN’S WARWhen billionaire Meg Whitman, the former eBay chief and onetime California gubernatorial candidate, joined Hewlett-Packard as CEO in late 2011, she walked into a tough spot: Its stock had cratered 42% in the year prior. As Forbes observed on our June 10, 2013, cover, Whitman was going to war—and she expected it would take five years to secure the venerable Silicon Valley pioneer. She went in, guns blazing—most notably, in 2015, splitting the company and remaining in charge of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, its services unit. Last month she announced she will step down in February; HPE’s stock is up 30% since it began trading in the wake of the company’s split. HPE president Antonio Neri will then take control. Whitman has ruled out another political run, and though briefly reported…1 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017TEST DRIVEWHERE TO, HUMAN?General Motors says its autonomous vehicles are improving so quickly that it plans to launch a driverless-taxi service in 2019. San Francisco, where GM has been testing 180 self-driving Chevrolet Bolt electric cars, looks like the first market; New York will likely follow.On a slow, cautious ride through San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, Forbes found that our driverless car, “Alex,” had trouble reading the body language of a guy with a surfboard under each arm trying to cross the street. When a construction worker appeared from between two trucks, Alex swerved and slammed on the brakes— a reaction indicative of its programmed abundance of caution.GM is bullish on autonomous ride-sharing. At $2.50 a mile in San Francisco, for example, services like Uber and Lyft are unprofitable because most…1 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017Hidden FiguresVenture capitalist Jenny Abramson is holding her once-a-month open office hours at Hera Hub, a women’s co-working space in Washington, D.C. With her long, straight black hair swept out of the way over her right shoulder, she deftly jots notes with a stylus on an iPad while maintaining eye contact as Kimberly Linson tells her about Leaderally, a new professional learning site for teachers.Linson, 46, is clutching a Dream/Believe/ Achieve notebook and understandably seems a tad nervous about the site’s planned January beta launch. She and her two female cofounders quit their longtime management jobs at a tutoring company to take the entrepreneurial plunge.After peppering Linson with questions, Abramson declares herself “thrilled” with the Leaderally concept but suggests the women market initially to charter school teachers, who typically have less…6 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017Middle MenschIf you think Hollywood is full of excrement, consider the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, a facility that processes 45.6 million gallons of Los Angeles-area sewage per day—precious stuff in southern California. Peering out across Tillman’s bubbling muck, mustachioed operations manager Michael Ruiz offers a line reminiscent of Chinatown or Mad Max. “Everyone’s fighting for this water,” he says grimly. “Water wars.”Nobody knows this better than the founder and CEO of impact outfit Swell Investing: hard-hat-clad David Fanger, who listens intently as Ruiz explains the promise of new pumps made by a company called Xylem. The gear being tested at Tillman helps blast wastewater with ozone, a technique just as safe but much cheaper and quicker than traditional osmosis cleansing. One day, Xylem’s technology could help Ruiz realize annual…5 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017Around the World in ’18 WaysThanks to ambitious new hotels opening around the world, 2018 is shaping up to be another great year to travel. Whether one-off boutiques or strategic brand expansions that were years in the making, these hotels share a close attention to detail and design and a determination to redefine the meaning of luxury. Big brands are making big bets on up-and-coming cities like Warsaw and Bogotá, while upstart indies are offering new takes on destinations we thought we knew. Here’s what’s on the map for 2018.ASIACapella Shanghai, Jian Ye LiNow in soft opening, the latest hotel from the high-luxury Capella brand is dripping with Shanghai-in-the-’30s glamour. It occupies a 1930s estate built in the shikumen architectural style, with elaborately carved matou gable walls and a series of narrow alleyways, inner courtyards…5 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017THE GOP FORGOT TAX CUTTING 101TWO REMARKABLE things stand out— for their absence—from the drawn-out, convoluted Republican tax-bill exercise. One is somewhat arcane but absolutely critical to effective tax policy (Ronald Reagan understood it); the other is astonishing, given all the GOP verbiage on the importance of investing and the alleged need for “revenue offsets” for most of their cuts.• Marginal tax rates. This is the tax rate you pay on your next or additional dollar of income. Ronald Reagan, John Kennedy, Jack Kemp and other wise tax cutters of the past grasped the significant fact that the marginal tax rate is what matters most to individuals and businesses in their decision making on whether to work to earn more or where to invest. Take an extreme example that makes the point: Say someone makes…3 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017SPECIALabcV with Jean-Georges—Leonardo himself couldn’t render these vegetarian dishes more vividly and artfully—or deliciously.Al Vaporetto—Venetian classics with a flair served in a romantic, cozy setting. Save room for the perfect crème brûlée or the Italian version of a floating island.American Girl Place Cafe—Young girls and their dolls, perfect together.BBQ ROUNDUP: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que / Fette Sau / Hometown Bar-B-Que / John Brown Smokehouse / Mighty Quinn’s.Benoit—Beautiful bistro, fantastic fare.Café Centro—Grand Central location and tip-top food have made this the perfect place for business breakfasts. Also busy at lunch and increasingly so at dinner.Center*Bar—The nearby Christopher Columbus statue is under assault, but no one can fault the fine wines, imaginative co*cktails and delightful small-plate fare found here.Chinese Tuxedo—The jewel of Chinatown, set in a former opera house. The flavors of each dish…3 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017INDIANAPOPULATION: 6.6 MILLION 2016 GROSS STATE PRODUCT: $342 BILLION (1.5% GROWTH) GSP PER CAPITA: $51,546 (RANKS NO. 28 NATIONWIDE) NUMBER OF BILLIONAIRES: 3 RICHEST: CARL COOK NET WORTH: $8.1 BILLIONFOR OVER 50 years, Cook Group’s catheters, filters and stents have helped patients get healthy, and proceeds from their sales make up the bulk of heir and CEO Carl Cook’s fortune. Lately, though, the company’s IVC filters, spider-shaped devices used to prevent blood clots, have been at the center of roughly 3,000 lawsuits from patients alleging that they’re faulty. The company won its first trial in November after a jury determined that the plaintiff—a patient whose filter got stuck inside her, causing internal injuries—failed to prove the filter was defective. But Cook, which insists its filters work, will face at least…1 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017RAZER’S EDGEFOR AS LONG as he can remember, Min-Liang Tan hasn’t gotten more than four hours’ sleep. Most recently, THX has kept him up at night. Tan bought the audio company, founded by George Lucas, last October for an undisclosed sum. “We’ve got a lot of expectations to grow into the entertainment space: movies, music and things like that,” says Tan, dressed in his usual black shirt and blue jeans. “That’s something we are really excited about.”Tan, 40, has spent the last few years expanding the reach of the Singapore and San Francisco–based Razer, a 12-year-old company best known for gaming laptops and accessories. In July 2015 Razer bought the software assets of Ouya, an Android gaming console, and in January 2017 it snapped up Nextbit, an Android phone maker. Right…1 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017Dreaming of a Polyethylene ChristmasTHOMAS “MAC” HARMAN grabs hold of the plastic-encased steel trunk of his company’s 7-foot-5-inch Noble Fir and pulls off the top section. “This is a flip tree that’s really cool,” he says, as he turns the bottom two thirds upside down. The branches flatten over the metal base, which rests on four wheels, ready to be bagged and stowed in a closet until next year. One of Balsam Hill’s most popular designs despite a $1,349 price tag, the fake Christmas tree comes “pre-lit,” festooned with more than 1,000 LED bulbs.Based in Redwood City, California, where it’s surrounded by venture-backed tech startups like the cloud-storage company Box and the music-identification app developer Shazam, Balsam Hill’s parent, Balsam Brands, stands out like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The 11-year-old company has raised no…7 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017Big Data for Big CitiesLike most suburbanites, Janice Mon kowski, a piano teacher who lives in Danville, California, some 30 miles east of San Francisco, gets around mainly by car. For much of her life, public transit was not even an afterthought.That changed recently when Mon kow ski, a self-described technophobe, discovered Moo vit. When she goes to San Francisco to meet friends or catch the symphony with her husband, the smartphone app lets her plan bus and train trips down to the minute. “Moovit tells me where to walk and how long it might take to catch a bus to get to the train station,” Monkowski says. “It had probably been 10 or 15 years since I’d ridden a transit bus.”In exchange for the free service, Mon kow ski lets Moovit track her…5 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017BlackRock’s EdgeOn a large flat-screen monitor perched in front of a framed orange-and-blue Warhol print of Teddy Roosevelt as a Rough Rider, BlackRock’s chief operating officer, Rob Goldstein, is looking over the entirety of the financial firm’s $6 trillion in global assets—135 teams with positions in hundreds of markets in 30 countries. He is using software that he’s been perfecting for the 23 years he has spent at the company. A simple gray column on the left reveals BlackRock’s activity on this quiet pre-Thanksgiving day: There are some 25,000 trade orders in the market, 77,000 trades and thousands of collateral calls. A wider view colorfully identifies the specific portfolio managers and traders initiating the moves.The program is called Aladdin, shortened from the wonky Asset Liability and Debt and Derivative Investment Network,…5 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017COMPETITION IS THE NEW UNIONAlmost two years ago, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich made the kind of headlines no company wants: In the process of restructuring the storied chipmaker, he was eliminating 11% of its workforce—12,000 jobs. But far more quietly, Krzanich was focusing on something seemingly contradictory: cranking up a program to prevent the workers the company wanted to keep from walking out the door.The retention initiative was launched as part of a diversity push. In 2015, Krzanich had pledged some $60 million a year to boost underrepresented groups at Intel, yet in that year the company treaded water: 584 African-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans were hired, and 580 from those groups departed. Ed Zabasajja, a Ugandan-born, Auburn University-trained engineer who oversees internal diversity analytics, was keen to acquire data to figure out why…15 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017THE LAST COAL TYCOONThe masseuse felt the broken bones and the scars and asked Chris Cline what he did for a living. Cline said he was in the energy business. What kind of energy?, she wondered. Maybe solar panels or windmills? No, not that, he said. You’re not a fracker, are you? No, not that either. Then what? “I own coal mines,” said Cline. Without a word she stopped working on him and left the room. He waited a while, but she didn’t return. Cline won’t name the resort (“I might want to go back there”). And the scars? From his years underground in Appalachian mines, where the coal seams have been worked so thin it’s like “crawling under a table all day.” Cuts on his back from a mine’s ceiling “felt like…15 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017PLAYING THE WOMAN CARD• Last year State Street launched the SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity Index ETF (SHE), which invests in large-cap U.S.companies that rank high in their sectors for women in senior management. With an annual expense of just 20 basis points, it already has more than $350 million in assets.• PAX World Investments offers the three-year-old Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund (PXWEX) in concert with Sallie Krawcheck, the cofounder of ElleVest. There’s a 90-basis-point annual charge and $1,000 investment minimum. The fund has $175 million in assets and has beaten the global-equity benchmark MSCI World Index.• Motif Investing, an online platform that packages fractional shares of individual stocks into portfolios, allows you to buy into its No Glass Ceiling Motif, for a $9.95 trading fee, with a $250 minimum. It’s made up…1 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017Green Is Good, for ReturnsAs Karina Funk sips a can of raspberry seltzer, she extols the virtues of Ball Corp. of Broomfield, Colorado, which manufactures 43% of the aluminum beverage cans made in North America. The portfolio manager has a big stake in Ball, and she thinks its approach to environmental sustainability gives it a competitive advantage. “They design the top so that it has structural integrity, using less material—that’s a cost advantage,” she says between spoonfuls of lentil soup. She explains that aluminum is easier and cheaper to recycle than plastic or glass, partly because much less water is used. “Ball is growing in Brazil and helping some of those regions meet their sustainability goals in the shift from glass to cans.”Funk is in charge of the $1.1 billion devoted to sustainable investing…5 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017THOUGHTS ON Bosses“Always be smarter than the people who hire you.”—LENA HORNE“WE HIRE SMART PEOPLE SO THEY CAN TELL US WHAT TO DO.”—STEVE JOBS“He has the power to render us happy or unhappy, to make our service light or burdensome, a pleasure or a toil.” —CHARLES DICKENS“EMPLOYERS ARE LIKE HORSES— THEY REQUIRE MANAGEMENT.”—P.G. WODEHOUSE“I NEED MY BOSSES’ GOODWILL, BUT I NEED THE GOODWILL OF MY SUBORDINATES EVEN MORE.”—LLOYD BLANKFEIN“I’M NOT A BUSINESSMAN— I’M A BUSINESS, MAN.” —JAY-Z“TOO MANY KINGS CAN RUIN AN ARMY.”—HOMER“DON’T HIRE ANYONE YOU WOULDN’T WANT TO RUN INTO IN THE HALLWAY AT 3 IN THE MORNING.”—TINA FEY“Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.” —PETER F. DRUCKER“NO MAN EVER BOSSES ME AROUND, AND NO MAN EVER WILL.”—CYBILL SHEPHERD“MY WORK IS A LOVE FOR ME. I’D DO…2 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017Artificial Intelligence: Friend And FoeArtificial intelligence has a huge role to play on both sides of the cybersecurity equation. The industry faces a protracted and severe skill shortage. AI can perform both rote management tasks more quickly and efficiently, without getting bored or distracted. It can also learn new and better security practices from the evolving digital framework it inhabits. In our world where connectivity has far outpaced security, intelligent agents that can heal and defend themselves are invaluable allies. Machine learning has already proven effective in sandbox environments at exploring potential vulnerabilities and devising defenses.But cybercriminals are developing their own AI, and are unlikely to do so ethically. In legitimate lab settings, AI can be carefully monitored and trained for years to be predictable and reliable. Cybercriminals are less likely to avoid these…2 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017THE FORBES 2017 ALL-STAR EATERIES IN NEW YORKThe only thing hotter than big tech stocks this year has been the New York restaurant scene, with countless—and some astonishingly creative—eateries opening and so many established ones reaching new heights of excellence. Of course, no industry is immune to creative destruction, and a number of once outstanding gastronomical meccas have either slipped or disappeared from our firmament. Our stellar team of ever-discerning tasters—Forbes editor Randall Lane, Forbes contributor Richard Nalley and preeminent media maven Monie Begley, as well as brothers Bob, Kip and Tim— herewith unveil their list of where you can enjoy the city’s most savory comestibles.AskaAteraBâtardBlue HillDanielDel PostoEleven Madison ParkGotham Bar and GrillGramercy TavernThe GrillJean-GeorgesLa GrenouilleLe BernardinMajorelleMareaThe ModernPer SeABC KitchenAi FioriAntonucci CafeAretsky’s PatroonAvra MadisonCafé BouludCarboneCUT by Wolfgang PuckFuscoGabriel KreutherIl BucoJoJoJunoonKeens SteakhouseLa VaraLe CoucouMaialinoMarc ForgioneThe Mark RestaurantMichael’sMomof*cku KoMonkey…1 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017PATRIOT’S PLACEAT WORK, New England Patriots owner and five-time Super Bowl champ Robert Kraft, 76, is never far from the NFL dynasty that has made him a billionaire several times over. His office sits inside Gillette Stadium, the Foxborough, Massachusetts, arena Kraft built and to which he commutes from his home in suburban Brookline. Around the corner a showroom displays the five Vince Lombardi and nine conference championship trophies won by the Patriots. (Kraft purchased the team in 1994 for $172 million using profits from his paper-and-packaging conglomerate.) A few steps away is a private elevator he takes to the Pats’ locker room and sidelines on game days.The office, which is next door to his son Jonathan’s, shares the space that serves as headquarters for Kraft’s other ventures, including his Major…4 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017PROPERTY PROSSUNDEEP KUMAR, SAM BERNSTEINLoftSmart | 25, 23The graduates of incubator AngelPad created the first national transactional marketplace for off-campus student housing. Seeded with $5 million, LoftSmart has more than 250,000 leases available for near-instant booking.SHRUTI MERCHANT, KERRY JONESHubHaus | 24, 28Jones and Merchant tackle L.A. and Bay Area lodging woes with community housing for professionals. So far 375-plus residents in 66 homes enjoy perks like free Wi-Fi and wine nights.DAVID WALKERTriplemint | 29The Yale alum’s online brokerage bypasses Realtors, using “predictive analytics” and other big data to match buyers and renters for not-yet-listed properties. Revenue for 2017 could hit $6 million.HASIER LARREAOri | 29Live like the Jetsons with this MIT grad’s origami-inspired furniture, backed by $6 million from Khosla Ventures. The robotic furnishings transform from bed to dresser to desk…1 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017POWER CUT: JULY 15, 1976AMERICA WAS one of the world’s two superpowers, but it remained dangerously dependent on foreign oil. The 1973 OPEC embargo—imposed on America in retaliation for weapons sales to Israel during the Yom Kippur War—had cost the United States between $10 billion and $20 billion in gross national product (upwards of $86 billion today) as well as 500,000 jobs. It exposed the country’s extreme dependence on foreign oil, a “vulnerability to supply interruptions [that] will get worse, not better.” Sure enough, another oil shock would hit in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution. As America sank into another recession, blocks-long lines at gas stations nationwide again became a daily test of endurance.Despite the warning calls sounded by Forbes and many others, reliance on foreign oil worsened in the ensuing decades, reaching a…2 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017HOW TO PLAY ITThere is an old saying on Wall Street: “Don’t fight the tape.” And in retailing, the tape clearly favors Balsam’s frenemy Amazon, which has provided lucky stockholders a 30% average annual total return since 2002. Another option would be to buy Amplify Online Retail ETF, which is stuffed with the likes of Stamps.com, Etsy, Overstock.com and 36 other e-tailers. For those who really want to step on brick-and-mortar’s throat, invest in ProShares Decline of the Retail Store ETF, which provides short exposure (daily return times minus one) to an index of 56 traditional retail stocks.Marc Gerstein is director of research at Portfolio123.com.…1 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017HOW TO PLAY ITMoovit represents a key, consumer-focused step in the digital transformation of cities. But at the next level of abstraction, governments need to provide underlying technology that allows buses, trains, taxis and cars to achieve total awareness of each other and the terrain. Into this breach comes tech-services firms like PTC, which develops software overlays that help make the connections seamless. Municipalities and companies use its ThingWorx platform to quickly build, analyze and manage transportation networks. Vodafone is using PTC’s Smart City solutions to help reduce traffic congestion already. Soon the firm will also provide smart lighting, parking and air-monitoring services. The $7.2 billion Boston company logged $144 million in bookings in the latest quarter. PTC shares are up 40% this year and 225% over the past five years.Jon D. Markman…1 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017HOW TO PLAY ITAs profits in portfolio management shrivel, Black-Rock will rely more heavily on the less commoditized business of risk management. You can follow its lead by investing in companies that assess and address commercial hazards. Fico calculates the risk that a credit card user is a scammer or deadbeat. Moody’s determines the probability that Chicago will default on its bonds. Verisk Analytics can put odds on all sorts of misfortune, from terrorism to roof cave-ins. Exponent is a science-heavy company that does “failure analysis”: figuring out, before it happens, how a structure or machine might rust, bust, corrode or explode.William Baldwin is the Investment Strategies columnist for Forbes.…1 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017THE JUST 100Forbes has partnered with Just Capital to rigorously evaluate 877 of the largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. (the Russell 1000 minus companies for which complete data aren’t available, like REITs, and businesses that have merged, like Whole Foods). Data are pulled from publicly available sources, third-party vendors and crowdsourced repositories and then scoured by a team of statisticians and data scientists. The ranking is then weighted based on what Americans say are the seven most important aspects of business behavior: worker treatment (23% weighting), customer treatment (19%), quality of products (17%), environmental impact (13%), community support in the U.S. and human rights elsewhere (11%), the number of jobs available in the U.S. (10%) and shareholder treatment (6%).…1 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017The Fossil-Free Oil PlayWhat makes you want to buy solar stocks—guilt or greed? Lucas White, who picks those stocks at Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo, could justify his portfolio either way. But it was more the payoff on energy that got him started.Six years ago GMO assigned White to help run its natural resources portfolio. There’s no way to operate such a portfolio without a heft y exposure to energy. And that got White thinking about the financial hazards embedded in oil and gas wells.“All the risks I saw over the short to medium term you can diversify away from,” he says. “But not the long-term risk, the stranded-asset risk. Carbon regulation could mean that your coal, tar sands and heavy oil can never be developed. Technological disruption could render your assets useless.”Solution: Put…6 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017Portfolio PlacebosIf you listen to the marketing hype, assets devoted to ESG— industry jargon for investments sensitive to environmental, social and governance issues—account for some $8.7 trillion, double the amount just five years ago. That’s great news for the planet, right? Not so fast. Much of the growth is a matter of semantics. What were once run-of-the-mill value or growth funds are being reclassified as sustainable or ESG-friendly.Take, for example, American Century’s $227 million Sustainable Equity Fund. In 2004 it launched with the name Fundamental Equity, focusing on large companies. Last year the frequent underperformer was renamed to meet growing investor demand for sustainable investing. Says portfolio manager Joe Reiland, “We all want to preserve the environment and do well and do good.”Even more rampant than shape-shifting funds are those with…3 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017NICHOLAS AIR: MAKING PRIVATE AIR TRAVEL PERSONALChoosing a private-aviation services provider can be a daunting task, with thousands of such companies competing within a growing market. Nicholas Air, while far from the largest, believes it offers a compelling value proposition that refined travelers can embrace: a best-in-class product that guarantees a superior flight experience. Founder and CEO Nicholas J. (NJ) Correnti explains his company’s vision.For more information on the Nicholas Air advantage and its various programs, visit www.nicholasair.com.Velocci: Private-aviation services, from charter to jet cards, is an extraordinarily crowded market segment, with low barriers to entry. How does Nicholas Air differentiate itself?Correnti: Think of Nicholas Air as a boutique provider with a selective base of several hundred members. We’re not the most expensive provider, but we’re not the cheapest, either. If all someone wants is transportation…7 Min
Forbes|December 26, 2017CYBERSECURITY 2018 A Year In PreviewBetween ransomware attacks, remote mobile phone hacks and massive consumer data breaches, it’s very difficult to name a part of our technological framework that isn’t under assault. The current generation of cybercriminal is organized, motivated and well-funded, uncovering weaknesses and infiltrating systems at tremendous speed and scale. The cybercriminal marketplace has become adept at adopting the latest advances in technology, such as automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to create more effective attacks. And as mobile, cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT) continue to grow, new disruptive opportunities emerge for cybercriminals as the attack surface grows.Well-known attacks and breaches from 2017 foreshadow the massive disruptions and economic impacts possible in our near future, resulting from the ransom and disruption of commercial services or intellectual property. The imminent risks will require…6 Min
